JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Washington Nationals closer Drew Storen exited early because of a blister on his right big toe Monday in a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Storen issued a two-out walk to Kolten Wong, then left the mound in the sixth...

A little of this and a little of that:
After such a miserable winter, we're due for a nice spring in this region.
And nothing could be finer than a spring warmed by a couple of contending baseball teams.
This region is blessed with a pair of...

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Bryce Harper homered for the second straight day and Jose Lobaton hit a three-run drive run in the eighth, one of seven home runs on a windy afternoon as the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 11-7 Sunday.
"Balls were...

City
Annapolis, various venues.
•The third Annapolis Beer Week will be held from April 18-25 at various Annapolis locations. More than 60 brands will be available, some exclusively during the event, which includes the Beer Run on April 18 and the...

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Washington first baseman Ryan Zimmerman made an early exit after jarring himself diving for a grounder, and the Nationals said he was OK after a 1-1 tie with the split-squad St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
The oft-injured Zimmerman made a dive to the left, and was pulled after the second inning.
"He's good," Williams said. "He's played three in a row. He's fine. He dove for that ball, banged himself a little bit. But he's good. No worries. … If he had to play, he could...

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Gio Gonzalez threw five scoreless innings for the Washington Nationals, and the New York Mets later hit three home runs in an 8-3 victory Thursday night.
Gonzalez gave up two hits, struck out five and walked three. He didn't allow a hit until the fifth.
Matt Reynolds and Juan Lagares hit back-to-back home runs off Washington reliever Jerry Blevins. Matt den Dekker hit a two-run homer against Craig Stammen.
Minor leaguer Matt Bowman, called up to make his first start of the...

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Max Scherzer looked amply ready to start on opening day for Washington, striking out nine in six shutout innings during the Nationals' 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
Nationals manager Matt Williams recently announced that the newly acquired Scherzer would make his first career start in an opener. Washington begins at home against the New York Mets on April 6.
Making his fifth start of the spring, the former AL Cy Young Award winner allowed only three hits....

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Max Scherzer will start the Washington Nationals' opener on April 6 against the New York Mets, not Stephen Strasburg.
"It's going to be real exciting," Scherzer said Monday. "It's a great honor to be able to start opening day, especially for this club, and especially on this staff. But at the end of the day, it's just game one. There are bigger and better things I want to check off."
Starting a $210 million, seven-year contract, Scherzer will be making his first opening-day...

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Detroit's Anibal Sanchez got back to what makes him successful, Washington's Gio Gonzalez was just happy offseason work to strengthen his left shoulder appears to have helped.
Each allowed just two hits Thursday in a 0-0, 10-inning tie.
Sanchez, who gave up four runs in his previous outing, against Philadelphia, struck out six and walked none in five innings. He was scheduled to throw up to 75 pitches, but was so efficient he needed only 52.
"It wasn't a specific pitch, it...

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton homered for the first time since he was beaned last September, part of a three-hit game that helped the Miami Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 Wednesday.
Stanton doubled in the first inning against Doug Fister, had an RBI single that made it 2-0 in the third and tied the score 3-3 when he homered leading off the sixth against Casey Janssen.
"Today was a good day, obviously," said Stanton, who is hitting .286 with six RBIs in the exhibition season....

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Max Scherzer pitched four shutout innings and Dan Uggla hit his first home run of the spring Sunday in the Washington Nationals' 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros.
"This is a chance to see where you're at," Scherzer said. "I went out there with the mentality of giving them everything I'd give them during the regular season, plus I know these guys a little bit from pitching in the American League.
"I was really focused on the results today rather than just going out and...